Five major dairy farms populated the half-mile stretch of Upper City Road in Pittsfield where Tom Osborne’s childhood unfolded.
As he matured into young adulthood in the 1960s and 70s, the golden years of New England dairy were quietly waning in his backyard. All but one of those farms — enjoying the upward swing of technological progress in mechanical milking and refrigeration made during earlier decades — have deserted dairy, including the Osborne family, which sold its dairy cows in 1986.
Hours were long, and the work was unforgiving. Returns paled in comparison to those investments: The price of milk fluctuated with little predictability while investment grew costlier, often outweighing revenue. Towards the end of the lifetime of their dairy operation, Osborne remembers his late father, David, straining to eke out a third milking from their cows every day, one more than standard.
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Resting on their shoulders was the endurance of a business already more than 200 years old. Now, the farm, founded in 1775, is marking its semiquincentennial, looking very different than how it did in the past.
“Over the years, we’ve had to evolve and not always do what we’ve always done. I think sometimes that’s a hard thing,” Osborne said. “You kind of feel like, ‘Hey, this is what we’ve always done, let’s keep doing what we do and what we know.’ But I think we’ve had to just learn.”
Young Tom Osborne in his 4H jersey, pictured circa 1982. Credit: Courtesy of Tom Osborne
In 1976, the New Hampshire Department of Agriculture, Markets and Food listed 56 legacy farms as enduring within the same family of owners for 200 years. As the nation now marks its semiquincentennial, 250 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence, only a fraction of those farm enterprises remain, pastoral gems scattered across the state.
To shoulder the caprices of the industry, most have learned to adapt.
In 1938, a hurricane made landfall in Lebanon, tearing through Ascutney View Farm, razing a four-story chicken barn Susan Cole’s father had just built. When the storm subsided, family legend tells that there were chickens stranded in trees.
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“Sometimes Mother Nature decides for us,” Cole said Friday morning, representing her family farm, founded in 1771, at the New Hampshire Farm, Forest and Garden Exposition. “You have to be a flexible mind.”
Her father passed away at 102, having worked their 1,100 acres of forested and pasture land his whole life. The 100 dairy cows Cole remembers showing as a child through 4H were gradually sold, and today, the family keeps 60 sheep and taps 2,100 maple trees. Her husband manages the brunt of the manual labor, but without her full-time work in real estate, Cole said the farm would not be viable.
“Having no outside income is not an option,” she said.
Their family’s approach isn’t altogether uncommon. In 2022, farmers in New Hampshire whose primary occupation was one other than farming outnumbered farmers who made their income primarily from their land, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Nearly 60% had an off-farm job that they listed as their main source of income.
For the Osbornes, bifurcating the family business proved to be a more enduring shield against the financial riptides of the industry.
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While his brother Paul maintains the farm, Tom Osborne inherited from his father an expanding retail chain, Osborne’s Farm and Garden Centers, with locations in Concord, Hooksett and Belmont.
The year after the family sold its cows, they opened their first Osborne’s Agway Store, selling farm supplies. The farm continued to see changes: Their small horticultural operation has plateaued over the years; land that used to sprout corn has been seeded for hay.
Left to right: Heidi Bundy, Susan Cole and Tom Osborne, all owners of generational farms, speak at a panel at the New Hampshire Farm, Forest and Gardens Expo on Friday. Credit: REBECA PEREIRA / Monitor staff
Osborne cultivates 25,000 hay bales each season and resells more from other producers in his stores, but even the crop’s relative success hasn’t insulated the farm from uncontrollable, unpredictable challenges. The last two summers have yielded the best hay seasons in recent memory — for them and for their neighbors and competitors.
Hiring has rebounded in Osborne’s stores since COVID, but labor challenges still cast a long shadow over farm operations, especially for Heidi Bundy at Tomapo Farm in Lebanon.
Bundy knows the history of their land, inexorably entwined with the history of her family: In the mid 1800s, the family owned hundreds of sheep as wool boomed. They shifted to dairy with a herd of Jersey cows, which were displaced by black-and-white Holsteins by the time she was a child.
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In 1970, her father and grandfather, by then equal business partners, reckoning with the decline of dairy, reached an impasse: either stay in or get out. They chose the latter.
During the ten years her grandfather, Howard Townsend, served as the state’s commissioner of agriculture, her father ran the farm himself, logging alone in the woods for months at a time. “We diversified, and we’ll probably continue to have to be diversified,” Bunday said.
That decisive hour came for the Osbornes’ dairy operation two years later. Around 1972, Osborne said, his father questioned whether to throw in the towel on dairy, choosing instead to prolong the inevitable.
“I think my dad, in his later years, regretted taking on more debt to stay afloat,” he said.
Their farms, generational bulwarks, have lived continuous evolutions.
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The future approaches with greater uncertainty.
Of Bundy’s five children, she said none feel compelled to take on the farm. She’s promised her parents a place to live out the remainder of their days, and she’s going to “keep on doing what I can do” to ensure that she honors her word.
“If I have to leave the farm, I can do it,” she reflected. “I won’t be happy about it, though.”
‘New Hampshire Outright’ began more than 30 years ago, founded by a group of parents at the University of New Hampshire. It’s the only LGBTQ+ organization in the state with a dedicated focus on young people, their allies, and their families.
ERROL, N.H. (WHDH) – One person is dead and five others have been hospitalized after a head-on crash in Columbia, New Hampshire on Friday night, officials said.
Officers responding to a reported crash on Route 3 around 9 p.m. determined a Chevrolet Silverado heading southbound was struck head-on by a Chevrolet Camaro that was heading northbound and crossed the centerline, according to New Hampshire State Police.
Two adults and three children in the Silverado were taken to Upper Connecticut Valley Hospital in Colebrook. Two had non-life-threatening injuries and three had life-threatening injuries. All five were later transferred to Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center.
The driver of the Camaro, Courtney Diamond, 25, of Pelham, New Hampshire, was pronounced dead at the scene.
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Anyone with information that may assist in the investigation is asked to contact Trooper Jacob Ingerson at (603) 846-3333 or Jacob.J.Ingerson@dos.nh.gov.
(Copyright (c) 2026 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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Recently published data reflect the ongoing increases in the price of child care and decreases in access to care in New Hampshire, placing additional economic strain on Granite State families seeking affordable and high-quality care for their children. The price of child care for a family with an infant and a four-year old seeking center-based care averaged about $30,000 in 2025, up from $22,500 in 2017, while the number of licensed center and home-based child care providers has declined by 120 since 2017.
The national organization Child Care Aware of America (CCAoA) released its 2025 annual report on May 13, 2026. The report outlines the state-by-state early childhood education landscape, including both the price of care and provider supply within each state. In New Hampshire, these data were collected through the CCAoA’s New Hampshire Child Care Resource and Referral Agency and the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). Together, these data provide valuable, and updated, insights into the state’s early childhood care landscape and the challenges Granite State families face in accessing and affording child care services.
Rising price of early childhood education in NH
Based on analysis conducted by CCAoA, the average price of child care in New Hampshire in 2025 remains high for Granite State families. The average price of care for an infant and toddler in center-based care was $16,462 and $15,262, respectively, in 2025. For home-based care, the 2025 average price was $12,017 for an infant and $11,732 for a toddler. Furthermore, for a family with an infant and toddler making approximately the median income for a married couple with two children under age 5 in New Hampshire, the price of center-based care for their children would amount to approximately 25% of their family income. This financial burden is even greater for a single or unmarried mother, earning the median income of approximately $52,000 in New Hampshire, as paying the full average price of center-based child care for an infant and toddler would consume 61% of family income.
Additionally, these prices in care have increased substantially over time. From 2017 to 2025, the average enrollment price of center-based care and home-based care increased 32% and 30%, respectively. The largest increase in tuition prices during this period was 33% for toddlers and 4-year-olds in center-based care, as well as for 4-year-olds in home-based care. These increases in tuition prices outpaced inflation during the same period.
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For many Granite State families, the price for child care tuition will represent their greatest annual expense, particularly for families with multiple children and those living in rural regions of the state. According to Economic Policy Institute’s Family Budget Calculator, a family with two adults and two children living in Coos County, the New Hampshire county with the lowest cost of living, would spend on average 2.5 times more for center-based care for an infant and toddler than they would on housing. As affordability challenges and the overall cost of living continue to rise, some families may have to contend with difficult tradeoffs among essential household and family expenses, including child care services.
Although care for infants and toddlers are often the most expensive forms of care, child care-related expenses do not end once children enter kindergarten. Many families continue paying for before- and after-school programs, summer care, and school vacation coverage for years afterward. As a result, the costs outlined in this analysis likely represent only one portion of the broader child care expenses many Granite State families face.
Childcare supply challenges persist
While the price of child care tuition in New Hampshire remains high, the number of licensed providers has declined over time. The CCAoA’s report indicated that, in 2025, there were 613 licensed center-based programs and 104 home-based programs across New Hampshire. However, since 2017, the number of licensed center-based and home-based programs decreased by 10% and 32%, respectively. The greater closure rate in home-based programs across the State may have a disproportionate impact on families with low and moderate incomes seeking more affordable care options, as well as families in rural regions, communities of color, and families seeking non-traditional hour care, who rely more on this type of care to fill the gaps in available care from other providers. This decrease in number of providers, particulars those in home-based settings and in rural regions of the State, has likely placed further strain on family’s access to care, as they may have to travel longer distances for child care services.
Alongside the overall decline in child care providers during this period, the number of center-based programs participating in the New Hampshire Quality Rated Improvement System, or Granite Steps for Quality (GSQ), a statewide program designed to assess and improve the quality of care services in early childhood education settings, has decreased 16%. Of the remaining 99 providers that participated in the GSQ in 2025, only four reached the highest level of quality, or step 4 of the GSQ. These findings suggest that, as families navigate New Hampshire’s shrinking child care supply landscape in the State, they are encountering fewer options that offer recognized high-quality care services.
Families and providers continue to face growing financial pressures
The average tuition prices reported in the CCAoA’s analysis of the New Hampshire Early Childhood Education landscape do not necessarily reflect the cost of care all families pay for enrollment, or the cost providers pay for delivery of care services. Many families with low and moderate incomes qualify for the New Hampshire’s Child Care Scholarship Program (NHCCSP), a federal-State fiscal partnership that helps Granite State families afford child care through a tiered voucher system. Families who are eligible to participate in the NHCCSP may pay a weekly “cost share” of anywhere from $0 to 7% of their family income, with different tiers of eligibility depending on those family income levels. Families enrolled in the NHCCSP may also be charged a “co-payment” by the provider if tuition exceeds the weekly standard rates set by DHHS. In 2024, State policymakers expanded NHCCSP income eligibility for families, resulting in a significant increase in the number of families enrolled in the program, though this growth has slowed in recent months.
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Beyond the increase in eligibility for families in the 2024 expansion, policymakers also increased reimbursement rates for participating providers. While the provider reimbursement rates are set through the State’s Child Care Market Rate Survey, the prices only account for enrollment tuition prices. Consequently, these rates only capture what providers estimate families are willing and able to pay, but do not necessarily account for the provider costs for delivering high-quality care services and operating costs, including facility expenses, workforce and staff compensation, staff training, professional development training, as well as other costs. To supplement this gap in revenue, some providers turn to additional revenue streams such as grants, donations, and fundraising initiatives.
The rising price of child care tuition, coupled with the declining supply of providers in recent years, reflects the growing financial pressures families and child care providers face in New Hampshire. While programs such as the NHCCSP have an important and necessary role in reducing these barriers, additional State funding initiatives and policy strategies may be needed to more adequately address these challenges and provide meaningful financial relief for families seeking to access child care.
The New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute is sharing these articles with the partners in The Granite State News Collaborative. NHFPI is an independent nonprofit organization that explores, develops and promotes public policies that foster economic opportunity and prosperity for all New Hampshire residents. For more information visit nhfpi.org. These articles are being shared by partners in The Granite State News Collaborative. For more information visit collaborativenh.org.
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Left to right: Heidi Bundy, Susan Cole and Tom Osborne, all owners of generational farms, speak at a panel at the New Hampshire Farm, Forest and Gardens Expo on Friday. 
